Catfish Contest Thoughts

[joatmon]

A few observations - BFT participation is down overall (see charts below) and not sure if that is a product of an aging membership (not getting out as much), fewer members, website change, or D) all of the above. My guess is there is a need to expand membership to a younger audience. Not sure how to achieve that when competing with Facebook groups, etc. (Yes, I also belong to several Facebook fishing and ice fishing groups). 

I also see that commercial tournaments are continuing to grow. The sheer number of tournaments is up and thus participation must be robust.

Below are charts showing BFT contest (ice and cat) and forum (general and premium) participation over the last few years. I couldn't go back beyond the website change. Food for thought...